Greek pensioners joined the march for a better healthcare in Athens.
Germany
Greek pensioners joined the march for a better healthcare in Athens.
Thousands of German train drivers and railway workers began a week-long strike on May 5, the longest in the country鈥檚 post-war history.
About two thirds of Germany鈥檚 long distance trains and a third of regional trains have been cancelled, with trains in the eastern region around Halle, Leipzig, and Dresden reduced to about 15% of services.
Some subway systems were also affected, including in Hamburg and Berlin.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) carries a fifth of Germany's freight transport 鈥 about 1 million tonnes per day 鈥 as well as moving 5.5 million passengers daily.
G眉nter Grass, who was one of Germany鈥檚 most important post-war novelists, died on April 13 at the age of 87 in the town of L眉beck, in northern Germany.
Grass was perhaps most famous for his 1959 book The Tin Drum, a novel that embodied fantastical elements in its critique of Weimar and Nazi Germany. As such, his style bore resemblances to Latin America鈥檚 genre of magical realism. In 1979, the book was turned into an Academy Award winning film by Volker Schl枚ndorff, which won the Oscar for best foreign film.
Greece demands Germany pay war reparations
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has proposed creating a joint commission of Greek and German experts to address the issue of World War II reparations, TeleSUR English said on March 23.
鈥淎thens wants to come to an agreement regarding the issue of reparations, we need to find a common denominator,鈥 Kotzias said. The foreign minister added that he prefers a political solution to the issue, rather than a legal one.
Anti-riot police attacked protesters gathering against the inauguration of the European Central Bank鈥檚 (ECB) new headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 18. Reuters said more than 550 people were arrested.
Police used pepper gas and water cannons to open a path to the entrance of the building, which was being blocked by demonstrations. A minority of protesters threw stones or other projectiles and set fire to at least seven police cars. More than 100 protesters were reported to be injured.
If history is any guide, it is reasonable to assume that Greece鈥檚 recently-elected left-wing SYRIZA government will be subjected to a foreign-backed destabilisation campaign and possible attempts to install a new right-wing authoritarian regime.
There is a long history in Greece of the left being suppressed by the oligarchy collaborating with outside forces.
Greece鈥檚 new SYRIZA government submitted its list of proposed economic reforms to the Eurogroup (the finance ministers of eurozone nations) on February 23 as a precondition for its international creditors to approve a four-month loan extension. The deal was signed on February 20.
With Greece鈥檚 existing loan arrangement expiring on February 28 and bankruptcy looming, a last-minute deal was finally agreed after three weeks of intense negotiations. The talks had been characterised by daily 鈥 sometimes hourly 鈥 twists and turns, claims and counterclaims, leaks and threats.
Actions in solidarity with Greece鈥檚 anti-austerity government are being planned across Europe and beyond as Greece鈥檚 left-wing SYRIZA-led government confronts a European elite determined to destroy its pro-people platform.
Plans for protests to support Greece came as international institutions failed to reach an agreement with the SYRIZA government, TeleSUR English said on February 11. Talks were set to resume on February 16.
Leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France emerged from negotiations in Minsk, Belarus on the morning of February 12, after 16 hours of talks, and announced that agreement had been reached for a ceasefire in Ukraine's civil war.
The conflict has divided Ukraine since the overthrow of the unpopular, but democratically elected, president Viktor Yanukovich in February last year.
If anyone was still wondering whether European politics and a Europe-wide class struggle actually exist, reactions from all quarters to the first two weeks of Greece鈥檚 new SYRIZA-led government would have cleared up any doubts.
The statement below was published on .
It has been signed by seven out of nine presidents of Germany's trade unions, all members of the executive boards of DGB and IG Metall, and mainly Social Democratic Party politicians in Germany's parliament and the European Parliament, including two vice-chairs of SPD, as well as numerous academics.
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On January 27, the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camp Auschwitz, the German city of Augsburg decided to turn a branch of the former concentration camp at Dachau into a refugee centre. The asylum seekers will live in a building where thousands of slave labourers suffered and died under the Nazis.
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